Barcelona/Madrid/Consuegra/Cordoba/Seville/Marbella/Granada, Spain. 

Gibraltar, British Overseas Territories. [November 2015]

Spain, especially as one delves deeper south into its Andalusian soul, is hard to sum up in words. In 8 days I remember being:

• Mesmerized by a dazzling performance at La Casa del Flamenco in Seville, the frenzied tapping of shoes and piercing songs of sorrow leaving an indelible mark within;
• Stuffed to the neck by plates after plates of delicious tapas, from the ubiquitous Jamon Iberico to bowls of velvety gazpacho;
• Captivated by the endless variations of moorish architecture and designs, from the Seville alcazar to the Mezquita Cordoba to Alhambra;
• Fascinated by the instant switch from Spanish to British culture across the air strip-delineated border of Gibraltar, where red phone booths and barbary masque monkeys greeted us;
• Enlightened while strolling through the halls of the Prado, Reina Sofia, and Royal Palace of Madrid to appreciate some of the finest art the Western world has ever produced…

…and all the luggage-across-cobblestoned-streets-dragging and eight-cities-in-a-week-rushing and sixteen-hours-and-900-miles-driving and mentally-and-physically-exhausting moments. But that’s just a postscript in the ever grander adventure of seeing it all.

Barcelona – Spanish soil, Catalan soul

Madrid – Artistic history, royal grandeur

Consuegra- Don Quixote fought, windmills won

Cordoba – the co-evolution of Islamic past and Christian present

Seville/Sevilla – flamenco by night, Alcazar by day

Gibraltar – the British are coming…or at least they won’t leave

Granada – Alhambra, “a pearl set in emeralds”

“Everything here appears calculated to inspire kind and happy feelings, for everything is delicate and beautiful. The very light falls tenderly from above, through the lantern of a dome tinted and wrought as if by fairy hands.” -Washington Irving, Tales of Alhambra

“There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” -Thich Nhat Hanh